Exhausted
by TheDangerousHumanLizardCat
Summary: Crow is exhausted from working extra shifts, and keeping his best friend from collapsing. Finding Yusei asleep at the computer, he goes to help him to bed, but is pleasantly surprised when the computer starts talking to him, and feels blown away by another one of Yusei's amazing accomplishments.


**Exhausted**

Crow turned his face to the water pouring down on him from the showerhead to rinse himself one more time. Feeling sufficiently soap-free, he turned the water off and reached out to grab a towel. Being careful not to slip, he stepped out of the shower and dried himself off completely. While getting dressed, he glanced in the mirror and looked at his arms and torso. He grimaced at the lack of visible muscle-tone and grumbled something about needing to start working out regularly. Exiting the bathroom, he yawned and stretched. He was exhausted. He'd been working extra weekend shifts lately, trying desperately to earn a promotion in his work as an officer, and had put in some extra time in the garage learning how to repair and upgrade duel-runners. The thing that was wearing him down the most, though he wouldn't admit it, was looking after his best friend and roommate.

Yusei had taken to spending most of his time writing a program to bring Bruno, his beloved blue-haired companion, back to life after his body had been sucked through a black hole. Crow had to laugh every time he thought about that; somehow, after defeating Z-One and stopping the Ark Cradle from crashing into Neo-Domino, Yusei had managed to ride through the Ark Cradle and find Bruno's body before exiting the self-destructing floating island. His delay in exiting had caused his friends quite a bit of worry, but when they saw him dragging Bruno's body out with him, they understood why he'd been willing to stay there for longer. Yusei would risk his own life to save the life of anyone who was important to him.

Of course, after the initial successes of saving the city and rebuilding Momentum to be completely safe and functional, Yusei's spirit had dropped off rather rapidly as he switched his focus to fixing Bruno. Crow had watched as Yusei stopped eating and sleeping, and just spent all day and night at the computer, writing and re-writing code after code. Eventually, after having to run to catch Yusei as he collapsed from lack of proper sustenance, Crow demanded that Yusei start taking care of himself a bit better and made a point of eating with Yusei at least twice a day. He also started working in the garage with Yusei. This served two purposes: one, to finally be able to understand a bit of the mechanical and engineering work that Yusei did, and two, to keep a closer eye on his friend.

On this particular evening, Crow had gotten off a ten hour shift and went to work with Yusei in the garage for a while. After an hour or so, Crow had started to drop tools more and more frequently, and Yusei insisted that he go have a coffee and relax for a while. Crow nodded and said that he'd be back in a bit. He'd gone upstairs, ingested a cup of coffee loaded with sugar, and went to have a shower. Feeling a bit more energized despite how worn out he was, he headed back downstairs to check on Yusei. When he got there, he saw Yusei bent over in his chair, head on the computer desk. Crow crept closer, realizing that Yusei was asleep, and smiled softly. He knew that though the nightmares the other had been having had settled recently, the black haired boy hadn't quite got the hang of sleeping regularly yet. Crow wondered how many days it had been since Yusei had actually slept, and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Crow," a voice said.

Startled, Crow looked around the garage. Nobody was there, besides himself and the sleeping Yusei. The voice laughed.

"On screen," the voice said. Crow looked at the computer screen to see the head and shoulders of Bruno smiling at him.

"What…" He narrowed his eyes, looking more closely at the screen, confused. Bruno laughed again.

"Yeah, I'm in here," he said with a smile. Crow shook his head.

"I must have had too much sugar," he muttered, blinking a few times to try to clear his vision. Bruno laughed again and shook his own head.

"No, its really me," he said, warmly. "I'm back…sort of. My body isn't quite ready yet, or so Yusei told me, but today he finished compiling my memories and my consciousness so that I'm able to think and talk from here."

"You look just like you…" Crow poked the computer screen, still feeling a bit like it was some sort of illusion.

"Well, my body was damaged in the black hole, of course, so Yusei had to re-create a model of it to print the parts it would need. I can use the 2-D model here to have a physical appearance while I am conscious in this computer."

"My gosh… Does Yusei know you're here?"

"Of course, he talked with me for the past half hour…but then he fell asleep." Bruno chuckled. "I'm guessing he hasn't been sleeping very much, huh?"

"No, not at all," Crow said, pulling a chair closer to the desk. "He'd been having nightmares, relentlessly, and I think he just stopped trying to sleep. Or, at least severely limited the amount of sleep he could have."

"You look tired yourself, Crow," Bruno said, gently.

"Yeah, well…taking care of this guy, haha, and I've been working extra shifts on the weekend…" Crow rubbed the back of his neck. "I know we're set here, financially. Yusei's work on Momentum guaranteed that. But, I figure that eventually he'll want space, and I can't be financially dependent on him forever. Jack would have no problem with that, haha…but he's out on his dueling world tour for another month still, and will be loaded when he comes back. I'm also one of the people on the force in line for a promotion soon, and want to make sure I'm giving my all for that." Crow smiled. "It's hard work, but its worth it, and awesome to have the opportunity to do it."

"Wow, it sounds like you've really been successful since saving the world," Bruno said with a smile. "I can't wait to hear more once I'm back."

"How long do you think it'll be before you're back in your body?" Crow asked.

"Hopefully not too much longer… I don't know what state my body is in currently. My consciousness is ready—Yusei doesn't know that, haha, he's so afraid that he's missed something, but I can analyze it from here and see that it is complete. I'm fully equipped with life-functions currently, too, although I won't be able to feel anything until I am transferred back into my body. Computers can't get hungry, haha…but add a beating heart, and…it's a whole different story." Bruno paused and smiled at Crow again. "I can't wait to come back."

"Oh, phew, well, that's good," Crow said with relief visible in his tone. "Yusei was…well…Yusei worries too much."

"He thought I wouldn't want to come back, didn't he?" Bruno asked.

"He told you, huh?" Crow replied.

"No, but…I could tell. When he talked to me, he kept asking how I was feeling and if I was okay, and okay with being awake. I couldn't be more excited, to have this second chance at life…well, third chance, really, but second chance in a world that isn't falling apart at the seams. Another chance to be with the wonderful friends I made, like you." Bruno smiled again. "I'm truly thankful."

"I am, too," Crow said softly, glancing down at Yusei. He couldn't imagine his sleeping friend spending the rest of his life in agony, unable to move on from the death of the blue-haired man on the screen.

"You're tired," Bruno said, watching Crow. "He is, too. Why don't you both go get some rest?"

"Are you okay here, by yourself?"

"Sure, I can shut down whenever I'm ready. There are a lot of news articles I'd like to read first though, about what's happened since you guys saved the world, haha."

"Okay… Thanks, Bruno. So glad you're back."

"I'm glad to be back, too. See you soon." With that, Bruno disappeared from the screen. Crow sat quietly for a moment, feeling in awe at what his friend had accomplished. He then stood up and addressed the sleeping Yusei.

"Alright, Yus, time for bed…" Carefully, he lifted Yusei from the chair. Stepping softly, he carried his friend upstairs to his bedroom. He placed Yusei down on the bed and went to the dresser to find pajamas. Leaving the light off and using just the light from the hallway to protect his friend's dignity, Crow carefully pulled Yusei's clothes off of him and replaced them with pajamas. He pulled the blankets up over Yusei's body and stood there to admire his friend for a moment. "You really are incredible," he murmured, brushing the black bangs away from the other's face and leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Sleep well, Yus." With that, he turned to the door and walked out to find the comforts of his own bed.


End file.
